Sindhu Out of Singapore Open but Srikanth, Praneeth In Semis

From Saina’s medal at the 2012 Olympics to Kidambi’s climb, here’s a look at India’s upwards trajectory in badminton

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu suffered a crushing quarterfinal loss to arch-rival Carolina Marin but B Sai Praneeth and K Srikanth advanced to the semifinals of the Singapore Open Super Series on Friday.

Sindhu, who had reached a career-best world number 2 ranking after winning the India Open by beating Marin in New Delhi, went down 11-21 15-21 in a lopsided quarterfinal.

In the men’s draw, Praneeth, however, battled for an hour and 11 minutes to eke out a 15-21 21-14 21-19 win over eighth-seeded Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in the men's singles quarterfinals.

Srikanth, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from an injury, notched up a dominating 21-14 21-16 win over All England Championship runner-up Shi Yuqi of China to set up a semifinal clash with Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, who had beaten Sourabh Verma early in the tournament.

In the mixed doubles competition, B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 11-21 8-21 to the third-seeded Chinese duo of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong.